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| The Essential Nina Simone [2CD] |
| Nina Simone |
| első megjelenés éve: 2000 |
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| (2008)
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2 x CD |
Kérjen
árajánlatot! |
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| 1. CD tartalma: |
| 1. | My Baby Just Cares
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| 2. | Don't Smoke In Bed
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| 3. | He's Got The Whole World In His Hands
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| 4. | Mood Indigo
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| 5. | He Needs Me
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| 6. | African Mailman
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| 7. | Love Me Or Leave Me
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| 8. | I Loves You Porgy
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| 9. | Good Bait
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| 10. | For All We Know
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| 11. | Central Park Blues
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| 12. | You'll Never Walk Alone
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| 13. | Plain Gold Ring
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| 14. | Little Girl Blue
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| 2. CD tartalma: |
| 1. | The House Of The Rising Sun
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| 2. | Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood
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| 3. | Ain't Got No I Got Life
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| 4. | Ain't No Use
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| 5. | The Assignment Song
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| 6. | Gin House Blues
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| 7. | Do What You Gotta Do
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| 8. | See Line Woman
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| 9. | The Other Woman
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| 10. | Four Woman
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| 11. | I Sing Just To Know That I'm Alive
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Jazz / Vocal
CD1 Debut Album
CD2 Nina Live in concert
Playing tribute to her musical legacy this collection brings together some of Nina Simone's most essential recordings; CD1 contains her debut album, 'Little Girl Blue'. Originally released in 1958 on the Bethlehem label it marked her emergence as a major musical talent. CD2 contains a selection of songs that Nina has been closely associated with and is taken from a number of outstanding live performances recorded in the US. It offers a memorable glimpse of her power and flexibility as a live performer.
With beautifully designed artwork this completes an essential purchase package that represents the beginnings of one of the 20th century's most awe-inspiring musicians.
It remains one of the great debut albums of all time, a brilliant piece of work that stands as the blueprint for her unique career. Initially titled, 'Little Girl Blue', Nina Simone's first album was made and recorded over a few hectic days in New York. It not only displayed her great talent for absorbing all kinds of musical forms but in its audacious reach defied categorisation thus halting all preconceptions that were (and still are) attached to most black musicians. The album's release in 1958 on the Bethlehem label heralded the emergence of a major talent although what kind of talent that was remained unclear in an American music industry operating through strict musical demarcations. Nina Simone's brilliance was in clearing those divisions and in doing so pointing out their silliness.
On this album Nina utilises touches of jazz, classical and gospel music. She sings tin-pan alley songs and torch songs. There are songs taken from musicals and there are songs hewn from the blues. She performs two self-composed instrumentals (written during the making of the album) - 'African Mailman' and 'Central Park Blues' - and she breaks your heart on 'Little Girl Blue'. She also sings a song called 'My Baby Just Cares For Me', a light ditty which would later become her musical albatross.
Finally, the album shows off Nina's unique musical heritage, a blend of classical (white) and the church (black) that she was brilliantly able to create a stirring musical synthesis with. It is why her name is known throughout the world. In fact, that name is a false one. The Lord made her change it. Rather, her religiously devoted mother did. Eunice Kathleen Waymon was just out of her teens when she began playing in a Philadelphia bar. To prevent her mother discovering her playing non-religious music, she became Nina Simone. The first name was a nickname from old Mexican boyfriend, the surname from the French actress, Simone Signoret.
Born in 1933 in a small town called Tyron, North Carolina, Nina Simone has always found a way round the many obstacles placed in her way. Perhaps that's because she is so gifted. When she was two years old her mother found Nina playing, 'God Be With You 'Til We Meet Again' on the family organ. 'She was so surprised,' Nina says laughing, 'she almost died on the spot.' By the time she was six, Nina was the regular pianist at the family's church.
When not fervently praying, Nina's mother worked for a local woman called Mrs. Miller who came to church to hear Nina play. Impressed, she paid for Nina to take piano lessons. Nina was placed with a tutor called Mrs Massinovitch who introduced her to the music of Bach. 'Once I understood Bach's music,' Nina recalls, 'I wanted to be a concert pianist. Bach made me dedicate my life to music.'
When she was eleven Nina gave her first recital at the local town hall. As she was being introduced, she saw her family being told to give up their front row seats for a white family. Nina immediately announced that if her family were not allowed their proper seats she would not play. The family were duly given back their places. Nina Simone had just displayed her brand of stubborn courage. She would certainly need it, especially as her dream was to be the first ever black classical concert pianist. To achieve it, Nina, having moved to Philadelphia with her family, applied to the prestigious Curtis Institute. To everyone's utter astonishment she was rejected on the grounds of not being good enough. Many believed she had been hugely discriminated against. 'And the worst thing about that kind of prejudice,' she says, 'is that while you feel hurt and angry and all the rest of it, it feeds you self doubt. You start thinking, perhaps I am not good enough.'
Nina decided to sustain her dream. To do so she needed money. She began by giving piano lessons by day and performing at a bar called the Midtown Bar and Grill at night. At the end of her first engagement there, the bar owner asked her why she had just played the piano and not sung. Because I'm a pianist, she replied. Fine, said the barman. If you don't sing tomorrow, you're out of a job. 'At that time, I only knew classical music which to me was the only true music,' she says. 'The only way I could survive at the bar was to mix classical music with popular songs and that meant I had to sing. What happened was that I discovered I had a voice plus talent.' Thus was born the unique Nina Simone sound. Pretty soon her performances started to attract a younger Bohemian crowd. Soon other bars wanted her to play for them. Soon, the record business got to hear of her. Soon she was in a studio recording one of the great debut albums.
To make the album, Nina signed a contract with no professional guidance. When in later years, her version of 'My Baby Just Cares For Me,' began to be used on commercials she received not one penny.
Nina was now living in New York and moving in circles which brought her into contact with the era's radicals, especially the playwright, Lorraine Hansberry with whom Nina formed a great friendship. It sadly ended when cancer took Lorraine who at the time was working on a play entitled, 'Young Gifted and Black'. Nina took the title and wrote a song in memory of her friend. Fittingly, it became the anthem for the Civil Rights movement.
'I had spent many years pursuing excellence because that is what classical music is all about,' she recalled. 'Now it was dedicated to freedom and that was far more important.' Moreover, she was now exercising a real power when performing live, able to hypnotise her audiences through her astute use of musical moods and colours. Her strident presence and pronunciations made overt her natural feminism which in turn attracted hordes of like minded women to her cause. They're still their now. You can hear their applause on the second CD contained within which hopefully gives you a glimpse of her power as a performer. Look too at the range of music she tackles. 'See Line Woman' is classic gospel, 'Do What You Gotta Do' (slowed down from the recorded version) is classic pop, 'The Other Woman' is simply moving. There are also great versions of her own self penned classics such as 'Four Women' and 'I Sing Just To Know That I'm Alive'. As ever, Nina's voice is rich with emotion whilst her musical instincts unerringly draw out the very essence of every song she covers.
She sounds self-assured but in the late 60s Nina Simone was far from that. Governmental organisations were trailing her, the music business was hounding her out of money and her personal life was falling apart. In a state of desperation, she quit America. She lived in Barbados where she had an affair with the Prime Minister. She moved to Liberia where she danced naked on tables, she came home to America but quickly left again. All the time she kept singing and recording building up a superb body of work. She continues to this day.
Racism killed Nina Simone's childhood dreams but ironically the whole world benefited. She didn't become the first ever black concert pianist but she did conduct a career that has been marked by courage, dignity and true musical brilliance. It has made Nina Simone a world treasure, false name or no false name.
---Paolo Hewitt, 2002 |
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